The Other Son

The first act of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar finds cruel Cassius attempting to recruit Brutus to the traitorous assassination of their friend and emperor. The senator slyly suggests, “Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Like the seductive serpent enticing Eve with the desirability of forbidden fruit; like Satan whispering to Jesus that the Kingdom can be his if only he would grasp it, Cassius has played to the deepest desires of his friend’s psyche. Brutus does long to be thought of as great - to shed the mantle of supporting character and take his place in history. Well, here’s his chance…About 500 years later, on the far, far side of Julius Caesar’s erstwhile empire, a young Roman citizen is kidnapped by pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland. After signs and wonders lead to his miraculous escape, he then returns as a slave of Christ to reach his former masters with the gospel. His humble mission is so successful, that as the Roman Empire crumbles under the vile Visigoths and Western Europe slips into the Dark Ages, it is the fruit of Patrick’s spiritual lineage that preserves and redeems glory thought to be lost, eventually bringing about the Renaissance!One man seeks to rule the known world and loses everything, while another loses everything and ends up saving civilization. One gets relegated to the ninth circle of Dante’s Inferno while the other is the namesake of our beloved church! At no point in St. Patrick’s story is he seen as anything but a humble country shepherd, yet because Jesus said no to his Cassius and yes to his cross, we actually live in a world where the servant is a hero and the self-made man shall perish.Aside from the fact that a.) this blog hits your inbox on the Ides of March just two days before we gather together for worship on St. Patrick’s Day, and b.) I’m an absolute nerd, this literary contrast is also a pretty passable introduction to the next sermon in our Seven Signs series. In John chapter 4, we see an imperial official, accustomed to getting what he wants, in an utterly powerless situation. He’s begging for signs and wonders, and he doesn’t know the half of how dire his situation actually is. But as with St. Patrick, desperate is just where Jesus wants him. Because Cassius, like Satan, was only half wrong: even if the fault is within ourselves and not the stars, there is only one true Master of our fates.Josh